25 years of a simple life serving the poor

This year, Sister Maria Helen DelaPeña, SOLT celebrates her 25th anniversary of consecrated life with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. Her journey to a life devoted to Jesus through Mary began in the Philippines, where she grew up. From a very early age, her parents instilled in her and her three sisters and brother a foundation of faith and devotion.

“My mom always called us every evening at six to pray the Angelus in Spanish. Even though I did not understand, I remembered that being very important to her. She also had a devotion to pray the Rosary,” Sister Helen said, who was not a Spanish-speaker at the time. Additionally, Sister Helen’s grandmother insisted on a daily visit to the church near their house.

Sister Helen said that since about 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic, she had many opportunities to participate in the Catholic faith. During her high school years, she participated in Junior Cursillo, and it was then that she first felt the calling of Jesus.

“I remember being in the chapel in front of Jesus. It felt so good and peaceful to be with him. I knew that God gave me this beautiful life. I just wanted to share how God loves me. I wanted everyone to know about this life,” Sister Helen said.

After high school, Sister Helen went to college in a bigger city. She felt a strong desire to follow Jesus, live simply and leave everything behind, so she went to a priest to ask his advice. He told her to wait and keep studying, and that right then, her vocation was to study.

“But I was afraid to lose that fire, that burning love for Jesus," Sister Helen said recalling the encounter. "He told me not to be afraid and that the desire to follow Jesus would still be there when I graduated.”

Upon graduation, Sister Helen went back home and told her parents she wanted to enter the convent, but they wanted her to work for a year to make sure it was what she really wanted to do. In obedience to her parents, she worked full-time at her family’s business, and, since St. Francis was her patron saint, she found time to visit the Franciscans every weekend. It was there that she first encountered SOLT priests and sisters.

“I was attracted to the life, how they serve. It’s a simple life,” Sister Helen said.

Sister Helen made her first vows to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity on May 31, 1991. In her first mission after her profession, she was assigned to one of the SOLT mission islands in Bicol, Philippines to serve the poor.

“We were living the simple life of the islanders with no lights, no electricity, no telephone, no running water, roads or bridges," she said. "The lives of Jesus and Mary become so real and inspiring in the humble, long suffering witnesses of those we served.”

After that first, moving experience of life as a missionary sister, Sister Helen took some courses in theology in Manila as part of her continuing formation. In 1995, Sister Helen was sent to Mexico, where she learned to speak Spanish through immersion in mission life. After spending five years in Mexico, she was assigned to Rome, where she began formation work with the sisters and assisted in teaching children.

In 2010, Sister Helen was elected to be the Regional Sister Servant for the American Region, and she has served in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, where the administrative offices of SOLT are located, ever since.

“I feel like in SOLT that the relationship we have with the Trinity, it shows us how to be a family with all the vocations. I like the simplicity of life. We serve the poor, those in need. We make ourselves available. The community helps us to do our work. There’s a joyful spirit. We have this interaction with each other. We can relate to each other,” Sister Helen said.

“The things that I learned from my parents at such a young age, I can now share with the whole world because of my vocation in the religious life,” she said.